Applying to Uni

5 Things I Wish I’d Known about Writing Personal Statements

Worried about writing your personal statement? Holly knows exactly how you’re feeling, and she’s here to help you through it.

by
Holly Sawyer

First Published:

10 Nov 2015

348

Applying for university can be a daunting process. Having to write a personal statement good enough to show exactly who you are in such a limited word count and learning what to include and what to leave out is very difficult.

Having written my own and been through the process first hand, here are the things that I wish I was told whilst I was writing mine…

When writing your personal statement, it’s important to start with something the university will be interested to read about in order to grab their attention from the start. This could be why you want to study the course, or any relevant work experience you have for that specific degree.

Instead of waffling and trying to charm the admissions team with anything you can think of, focus on what you can offer and the relevant experience you have for the course. This will show the university you’re dedicated to the interests required for the course.

Using the same old words like 'shows' and 'highlights' repeatedly throughout your statement will not only seem excessive to the university, but it also doesn’t exactly convey good essay writing skills on your part, something that may be essential to your degree.

So try and use different synonyms when you can, for example instead of using shows, say portrays, conveys, demonstrates etc. This allows the university to see how intellectual you really are, along with your ability to diversify a reasonably short piece of text and illustrate a wide vocabulary.

You may find that some of your friends may be including famous quotes or quotes from people they admire within their statement. If you’ve got a quote or person that inspires you, it’s certainly worth using, but only if it’s relevant to the points you are making or are part of the reason why you wish to study the course etc. Universities won’t really be impressed if your quote is a lyric from One Direction just because "they’re really cute".

I didn’t include a quote simply because I didn’t have one which was particularly relevant, so I decided to talk about why I individually wanted to do a journalism course, giving a personal recount of my first experience with any form of journalism and what it would mean to me to study the course. Whatever reason you’ve got for wanting to study that course at that particular university, don’t be afraid to include it. Unless it’s just because you chose it out of a hat or your best mate is going there. In which case, don’t mention it.

When writing a personal statement it’s important to remember the strict word count, as anything over this will not be included in your final draft.

Learning to write in a reasonably compressed manner means the admissions team can understand the point you’re trying to make without reading several paragraphs to only find one point is being made.

Writing concisely but also elegantly can be tricky but it’s something that will come along with practice. It’s certainly effective too, and once you’ve got the hang of it you’ll never use 50 words when you could use 5 again.

All in all, it’s called a personal statement for a reason. This is your chance to prove to the universities who you are, and why they deserve to have you, not the other way around.

So don’t paint yourself in a light that isn’t representative of who you are. Portray the most accurate portrait of yourself and your interests, as the person you are is more than likely the personality they are looking for, rather than a robot statement which just reels off facts and statistics.

Writing a personal statement can seem like a long and painful process but honestly, it’s so worth it, and your hard work and effort will pay off in the end. Good luck!